Introduction

I’m not sure if it was a blessing or a curse when a
friend of mine started me on the path to finding audio nirvana almost ten
years ago. At that time, I was like many consumers who do not appreciate
how realistic and involving music can sound when played on “quality” audio
equipment.

I was happy, or at least I thought I was, in my
ignorance. That was until I had the opportunity to listen to a
two-channel system consisting of a Krell CD player/preamp, Krell
monoblocks, and B&W Nautilus speakers.

From that point on
I knew my mass market receiver and speakers would no longer
suffice.

My evolution into audio has seen a limited number of
changes in speakers and electronic components. Each change or upgrade was
based on a significant amount of research and listening, and usually
involved replacing the component that would give me the best improvement
for the money (at that particular moment). I found this method to be the
most beneficial, as I was able to enjoy a new level in fidelity while
staying within a predetermined budget.

When I was asked if I would be interested in
reviewing the Music Ring by Blue Circle Audio, I jumped at the
chance. This is one area of my audio/video system I have partially
neglected, as I was more concerned about the other components first. For
each upgrade to my system in the past I considered testing different line
conditioners, but did not believe they would make as much of a difference as a new
DVD player, amplifier, speakers, etc. This was a
total misconception on my part.

Description

The Music Ring is a balanced power line conditioner
and distribution center, which is designed to take the unbalanced power in
the AC line and convert it to balanced power. You may be asking yourself,
“What is unbalanced and balanced power?” Unbalanced power has a hot
conductor (120V to ground), a neutral conductor (0V to ground), and the
ground. Balanced power
reduces the amount of noise contamination in the power through Common Mode
Rejection, although this is only for the power line after the transformer,
not before it. Balancing is done by converting the 120V to a +60V to ground and a
–60V to ground.

When I received the Music Rings (MR800 and MR1200), I
was surprised at their heft, especially for their size. This is due
to the balanced transformer inside. These things are really
heavy.

The cosmetics of the Music Ring are simple and differ
slightly compared to similar components available on the market. The
front of the unit has a toggle switch, a LED to indicate power on, and a simple silk-screened
logo. The Music Ring is covered in a shiny black powder coat, which
differs from the majority of components that are brushed metal. I was
also surprised to see that there were three rubber feet, instead of the
standard four feet on most components. The three feet serve as a tripod,
which means it will lay on uneven surfaces.

The MR800 and MR1200 both have six industrial grade
outlets, allowing for connection to the majority of components in a home
theater rack. The outlets on the Music Rings provide a firm connection to
the plugs, so there is no fear of having the plugs getting accidentally
unplugged.

As you may be able to guess from the model numbers,
the MR800 outputs 800 watts and the MR1200 outputs 1200 watts. Both Music Rings
have 8 individual filters at the output to eliminate RF and EMI.

Performance

I connected all of my equipment to the two Music
Rings as soon as I unpacked them from their boxes. This gave me the
opportunity to live with the Music Rings in my main system for awhile, in
order to become familiar with any sonic and visual changes. My main
system is used for both listening to music and for home theater. I also
had a small secondary two-channel system at the time of this review in
another room, which I also used to test the Music Rings (but I will get to
that later).

After a week or so of using the Music Rings, I began
testing the changes the Music Rings made to each component in my system.
The first two tests were on my subwoofer (D-Box David 300) and my rear
projection television (Toshiba 40H80).

When I switched the subwoofer from being plugged into
the Music Ring to being plugged into the wall outlet there was a
significant change in the bass produced. I switched the connection
several times, comparing different types of music (classical, hard rock,
country and new age) to hear the difference. The Music Ring brought out
the best of my subwoofer; the bass was much tighter and the boominess was
reduced substantially. I consider my subwoofer to be the weakest link in
my system, but with the Music Ring it began to squeeze more value out of a
relatively inexpensive speaker.

I had the friend I mentioned at the beginning of the
review come over to watch a movie and one of the first things he commented
on was the bass improvement in my system. He asked if I purchased a new
subwoofer, as he has always bugged me about getting a new one. The fact
that the improvement was due to the Music Ring completely took him by
surprise. The improvement in bass may be due to the balanced transformer
storing energy that is released during transient peaks.

The next component I tested was my television. I
used my Video Essentials DVD to check the changes in color, contrast,
brightness, etc. I also watched several scenes in DVDs such as “Shrek” (I
love that movie) to check for improvements as well. I noticed some
improvement in the amount of picture noise while watching television; the
picture seemed to get a bit smoother. I was also able to see a slight
increase in the contrast when viewing the Video Essentials patterns.
Overall there were improvements to the picture on my television using the
Music Ring, although not as substantial as the improvement to my
subwoofer.

The next component on my list to test was my DVD
player (Panasonic RP91). Again I used Video Essentials and watched a few
DVDs to see if there were any differences. There were more substantial
changes to the picture, as there was more color saturation and increase in
contrast when viewing the test patterns. The changes were more noticeable
with the DVD player and could be clearly seen in “Shrek”, which looked
brighter and clearer in darker scenes. I was once again impressed by the
improvements.

I then performed tests on my
audio components, again involving my DVD player, which I use as
my CD transport and DVD-Audio player. I also tested my amplifier (Bryston
9B THX Ultra) and my pre/pro (Proceed AVP-S), using various types of music,
including my favorite disc for testing audio Ray Montford’s Shed Your Skin
[Softail 9801CD (1998)], which is a great recording and has a variety of
instruments.

Of the three components, my DVD player appeared to
have the most improvement in audio when listening to music, as the
instruments seemed to be a little more defined and separated. There was
also a slight improvement in the bass, although not nearly as much as when
testing the subwoofer. Improved image quality and audio detail are probably
a result of the Music Rings filtering out AC line hash that would
otherwise get into the component signal path. The balanced AC could also
improve the quality of the ground path in the components.

When I moved on to testing my amplifier and pre/pro,
each tested separately, the changes were not as noticeable, and I was
unable to pick out significant changes. This got me to testing all three
at the same time, all plugged into the Music Ring or all plugged into the
wall outlet; this is where I could clearly hear the improvement.

Everything became much more defined, the bass was
tighter and the individual instruments could be clearly distinguished. The music was much more dynamic, producing a larger soundstage. The
acoustics in Shed Your Skin had much more impact; I could feel the
percussion and hear the chords of the acoustic guitar ring out in the
songs “One Witness” and “May it Begin”. I was enamored by the sound of
the guitar, being a guitar player myself (to a limited degree anyway).

Classical music was much more enjoyable too, as I
found it much easier to hear each instrument in the various orchestras. I
was so caught up in what I was hearing that I listened to the entire two
CDs of Simply the Best Classical Anthems [WEA WTVD87038 (2001)],
and I
didn’t even realize how late it was.

I found myself listening to a number of CDs, as there
were subtle nuances that I hadn’t really been able to hear before. The
bass improvement and increased clarity of the dialog in movies made a
tremendous impact in watching DVDs as well, especially in movies like “The
Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring”.

As I mentioned earlier, I also had a two-channel
system in another room during this review. It consisted of a CD player
(Teac PD-D2410), an integrated amplifier (Classé CAP-151) and two old
speakers (Sony APM-33W – the ones with the square drivers).

I began by listening to the CD player and integrated
amplifier plugged directly to the wall, ensuring I had a good reference.
When I plugged both the CD player and amplifier into the Music Ring, the
bass, which was previously boomy, got much tighter. I had always thought
that the bass was just limited by my old speakers. The mids and highs
seemed clearer, as the individual instruments
became more distinct and easier to hear at lower levels.

After listening to a variety of tracks from a few CDs, I then decided to
listen to the CD player plugged directly into the wall and the integrated
amplifier plugged into the Music Ring and vice versa. The Music Ring
seemed to make the biggest difference to the CD player in terms of bass
and mids, whereas the difference to the amp was identifiable in the highs
and a little in the bass.

Conclusions

The Music Rings appeared to have
the greatest change in the components I consider to be the weakest
links in my systems. It likely has to do with the susceptibility of lower-end components to noise in the power lines, which the Music Rings
substantially improve upon. Higher-end components also benefit, but the
improvement isn't quite as significant, probably because they have better power
supplies, which likely help reduce some of the impact line noise has on
the components. It may also be that the transformer's stored electrical
power supplements the component's power supply during transient peaks, improving the
bass.

As you may be able to surmise from my review, I
enjoyed my experience with the Music Rings immensely. The
improvements
Music Rings make, both on the audio and the video in any system, can
be very dramatic, especially when the enhancements to each component are
added together. If you’re looking for the biggest bang for your buck, and want
to see and hear the benefit in your system with a new component,
definitely check out the Music Rings from Blue Circle Audio.